Nighttime Visits
by Mindell
Summary: Adrien is grounded and Marinette is desperate. Two weeks without seeing the most charming boy in her class, it was two weeks too long. But alas, Gabriel isn't allowing anyone to visit his son. Fortunately, Marinette knows a way to sneak into the Agreste household. She just has to hope that Adrien doesn't suspect anything. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

_Note :_

 _Hi !_  
 _I wanted to say the biggest thank you to XanLee, who translated this story from my original fic in french. Thank you so much ! Merci ! I don't have words to say how happy I am right now, you did an amazing work :D_  
 _THANK YOU !_

 _You can find XanLee on Ao3 undre the name XanLee or on tumblr under the name sadrien-depreste._ _If you liked this fic, please do not forget to thank_ _XanLee_ _for the translation ^^_

 _Original story : Mindell, "Visites nocturnes"_  
 _Available in french on my account_

* * *

"Marinette, I don't think this is a good idea," Tikki repeated for the fourteenth time that night. "A very, _very_ bad idea."

"But you don't understand!" the young girl exclaimed, dramatically throwing her arms toward the sky. "Adrien is grounded for two weeks. _Two. Weeks._ I am _never_ going to survive without seeing him for that long!"

She was sure of it. It had already been three long, painful days that her Adrien was being kept at home by his father, and she already felt a great emptiness in her life. She had to see him.

Ignoring Tikki's disapproving look, Marinette dropped heavily into her chair. She cursed Gabriel Agreste and his legendary harshness with all her heart, as it made him punish his son after too many tardies and absences from school. The girl folded her arms on her desk and buried her head in them, stifling back a grumble.

She never noticed that Adrien had missed so many classes. Sure, her duties as a superheroine forced her to miss school more than she would have liked, but still. She should have known.

On the other hand, it was perfectly possible that Adrien's absences hadn't been as bad as the punishment would suggest. Knowing how inflexible Gabriel Agreste was, it was likely that a single small tardy had motivated this completely irrational decision to punish his son for two long weeks.

Two weeks, during which Adrien would be under house arrest.

Two weeks, during with he would have private lessons again instead of going to class.

Two weeks, during which Marinette would be deprived of the extraordinary presence of the love of her life.

And for Marinette, one thing was certain: one could not reasonably hold a girl in love away from the object of her affection for so long. Jumping out of her chair, the heroine turned and stepped toward her kwami, a resolute gleam in her eyes.

Her mind was made up.

"Tikki," she called before her friend had time to protest. "Transform me!"

* * *

Barely a few minutes later, Ladybug softly landed on the roof of the Agreste household. She quickly found a small window, partly obscured by a massive chimney.

The girl de-transformed and approached the opening, under Tikki's disapproving look.

"Marinette, we need to go back right now," the latter whispered in an urgent tone. "You can't use your powers to sneak into other people's homes!"

"I know, I know…" Marinette murmured absentmindedly, her gaze fixed on the handle of the window. "Just five minutes. Just time to see Adrien, then we'll go."

"Marinette, you're putting your secret in danger," Tikki retorted. "Aren't you aware of that?"

"Yes, but… Please, Tikki," Marinette pleaded, pressing her hands together in a begging gesture. "Just this one time."

Tikki glanced at her for a moment, then shook her head in resignation.

"I suppose that even if I say no, you'll still go?" she sighed.

The guilty expression on Marinette's face immediately made any attempt at an answer to that question unnecessary.

"Ok, ok…" Tikki said with a deep weariness. "But just make sure your secret stays safe."

"I promise!" Marinette squeaked with enthusiasm.

Her cheeks red with excitement, the girl turned on her heels and leaned toward the window, her face close enough to the glass to leave a light trace of fog. Then, with a sudden realization, she blushed again and looked at her kwami awkwardly.

"And to… to open the window," Marinette asked in an apologetic voice. "Can you help me?"

* * *

Once the latch was unlocked by Tikki, it only took Marinette a few seconds to slip through the opening and set foot in an old office.

"Ok, hide," she whispered to her kwami, opening her purse. "I spotted where Adrien's room is, I shouldn't be too long."

"I hope for your sake that you'll be very careful…" Tikki sighed one last time, before disappearing into her little hideout.

"I promise," Marinette repeated with a puff.

Now alone, the girl slowly opened the door to the office, shooting a quick glance to the right, and then to the left.

Nobody.

The entire manor was covered in shadow, while a reassuring silence hovered in the air. With a relieved sigh, Marinette cautiously advanced into the hallway. Thanks to her careful observations, she had already figured out the location of Adrien's room from the outside, mentally mapping the place, deducing the route to follow.

Finding her classmate would be easy.

Although she moved at a wary pace, the girl only took a few moments to reach her destination. She paused at the door, took a deep breath, and gently pushed open the door that still separated her from her true love.

Just a few centimeters.

Just to make sure she was in the right place.

Heart beating wildly, Marinette cast a quick, discreet glance inside the room. She was sure that she wasn't mistaken, but it was better to be careful. The mere thought of stumbling in on Gabriel Agreste in the middle of working or getting ready to sleep was enough to justify the extra caution.

Marinette was quite keen on her future professional career, her peace, and her life.

Better to be sure.

As she scanned the interior of the room with care, Marinette felt an enormous wave of relief wash over her. In front of her stood brightly colored walls, a basketball hoop, a gigantic television set, and some books left in a corner. And most importantly, a boy with a terribly familiar silhouette standing in the middle of the room. She had succeeded.

She had finally found Adrien.

Finally.

* * *

Without losing a second more, Marinette snuck into the room and delicately closed the door behind her. Alerted by the movement in his peripheral vision, Adrien turned toward her.

And almost fell backward from the surprise.

Adrien reflexively caught himself on the couch, mouth gaping like a fish out of water - _but the most attractive fish, mind you_. The expression of stupor that had taken its place on his features was certainly something, such that Marinette might have burst out laughing if she had not been so nervous. Eyes round as saucers, Adrien stared at her with such intensity that she felt herself blush all the way up to her hairline.

"G-G-Good evening?" she started timidly.

"Marinette?" exclaimed Adrien, before throwing his hands over his mouth.

The boy brought his alarmed gaze to the entrance of his room, crossing it briskly to poke his head out in the hallway. Then, obviously pleased with his observations, he closed the door softly and turned back to his classmate.

"But how did you get in here?" he whispered as he approached her. "My father isn't letting anyone visit me."

His eyebrows were raised high in an expression of absolute puzzlement, accentuating the look of confusion on his face.

"Well… I…" Marinette sputtered, caught off guard.

The young girl barely managed to hold back a groan of despair. She had thought of everything. She figured the perfect time slot to elude the vigilance of his father. The way she would climb on the roof. How to break into Adrien's house. How she would locate his room.

 _Everything_ , except a plausible excuse to explain her presence.

Tikki had been right.

This idea was a disaster.

Marinette's nervousness increased by the second and, unfortunately for her, the girl didn't function well under pressure. At least, not like this. She knew perfectly well how to manage the pressure-of-fighting-a-super-villain. The pressure-of-responding-to-dozens-of-journalists. The pressure-of-carrying-the-security-of-Paris-on-her-shoulders.

But the pressure-of-talking-to-Adrien?

That was a whole different story.

Under the effect of the panic, Marinette's mind had suddenly become empty. Completely, undeniably, desperately empty. Not the slightest spark of an idea, not the smallest ounce of inspiration. Just nothingness, and a situation far too ridiculous to be able to get out of without the slightest explanation.

Marinette frantically swept her eyes over the room, searching for an excuse. Anything that could justify her improbable appearance.

Then, when her frazzled gaze caught on the multicolored footholds that decorated one of the walls of the room, her subconscious mind impulsively clung to this source of inspiration.

And before she even had the time to think about it, she had already opened her mouth.

"CLIMBING!" she cried out, before dropping her voice sharply at Adrien's distraught expression. "I… I like climbing," she continued, grimacing inwardly, seeing herself now forced to sink deeper into her lie. "I do a lot of climbing. So when I passed by the wall outside, I… climbed. Your house. And I came in through the window. Haha…"

Cheeks on fire, Marinette let her sentence die without daring to add another word. It was ridiculous. _She_ was ridiculous. She wanted to leave. To find a shovel, dig a hole somewhere, and bury herself in it.

Anything else, rather than continuing to be embarrassed in front of the love of her life.

Facing her, Adrien crossed his arms over his chest and sent her a look of skepticism.

"You climbed the side of the house?" he questioned in disbelief. "But there's almost no footholds!"

"Haha, what do you want, I'm very strong?" Marinette expressed hesitantly. "Er, I mean, yes, I'm very strong!" she continued in a firmer tone that she hoped was convincing. "A crack, a stone sticking out a bit, and hup, that's it! It's quite easy when you've practiced," she concluded with a theatrical wave of her fingers in front of her.

In Adrien's eyes, astonishment gradually gave way to sincere admiration.

"Wow… That's amazing!" he exclaimed with a big smile that gave Marinette the impression that her knees were liquefying beneath her. "You're really impressive! I already knew that you were super talented in sewing and drawing, but in sports too?"

"Haha, yeah, I have some hidden talents…" she agreed with a laugh that sounded unpleasantly fake in her ears.

Under other circumstances, Marinette would have certainly been delighted to receive such compliments from Adrien, but knowing that they were partially based on her lies left a bad taste in her mouth.

"I don't know if you're aware," the young man went on enthusiastically, "but I like it a lot too. I even have a climbing wall, as you can see," he continued, gesturing to the wall with a broad wave of the hand. "Do you want to give me a demonstration?" he asked, glancing at her hopefully.

Marinette's eyes immediately widened in horror.

She was already incapable of climbing even a dozen steps without stumbling, so a wall…

No.

Definitely no.

It was out of the question, and her classmate could not find out.

"Uhhh, i-it's not that I don't want to," she stuttered, raising her hands in front of her, palms facing Adrien defensively. "But I-I… I don't have… I don't… I have to save my strength. To leave. Outside. Later. I have to climb the wall down. To, uh, you know. Leave."

"Ah, yes, right…" agreed Adrien, nodding his head thoughtfully. "In any case, it was nice of you to come," he continued, smiling at her with clear sincerity. "It really is a pleasure."

Marinette felt herself blush again. Her cheeks on fire, she had to call upon all of her willpower to keep her from shouting with joy. Adrien was happy to see _her_!

"It's crazy how long the days can be when you're only allowed to leave your room to see your tutors," the boy added with a deep sigh.

"I can't even imagine how hard it must be," his classmate replied sympathetically.

And when Adrien answered with the brightest of smiles, Marinette was overcome with such an outburst of euphoria that she felt her head spin. Her heart, singing with glee, beat so violently that she began to fear that Adrien would hear it.

Instinctively putting a hand on her chest as to try to stifle the compromising noise, Marinette let out a content sigh.

Adrien was handsome, wonderful, and endlessly kind, and he had just given her the most extraordinary smile after saying he was happy to see her.

She was in heaven, that was for sure.

"Anyway, I don't think you've ever been in my room, right?" Adrien started, raising a questioning eyebrow, and interrupting his classmate's train of enamored thoughts.

"No…" replied Marinette dreamily. "You're amazing. _IT'S_ amazing!" she corrected herself, wincing. "Your room. _IT_ is amazing. And huge. I've never seen a bedroom with two floors," she finished, raising her eyes to look at the height of the room.

"Yeah, my father has a slight tendency to exaggerate things," agreed Adrien, unconsciously bringing a hand to the back of his head.

A slight grimace settled on the boy's face and Marinette quickly felt the atmosphere go sour. Obviously, they had run into a sensitive subject for Adrien.

Wanting to change the subject, Marinette took her courage into her own two hands and took a step toward him.

"Can you show me around?" she proposed with an encouraging smile.

"Oh, yes, of course," answered Adrien gratefully. "Well, you have the climbing wall, which you can use whenever you want to give me a demonstration," he began with a wink that dusted Marinette's cheeks with pink. "Up there, there's my library," he continued, gesturing to the balcony with his hand. "There, you have the television corner, my video games, over there is my desk…"

While Marinette listened to Adrien blissfully, her attention was suddenly caught by the young man's computer. And more precisely, by the familiar silhouette that stood out on the wallpaper.

The silhouette of Ladybug.

* * *

Marinette was paralyzed with astonishment for a moment, staring without really seeing the image of her heroic alter-ego. She couldn't think anymore. A violent discharge of emotions were overloading her brain, giving her the sensation that a fireworks show was raging in her skull, that all of her neurons were exploding into a myriad of sparkling colors. There was no doubt that Adrien had chosen an image he was so attached to as his wallpaper so that he could admire it every day.

And that image was none other than a photo of Ladybug.

A photo of _her_.

"Y-you… you're a fan?" she stammered in a voice that was a little bit too sharp.

"What?" Adrien questioned, surprised, before he notice where Marinette was looking.

For the first time since she knew him, the girl was amazed to see her classmate blush. Adrien coughed awkwardly, while his cheeks and ears turned delicately pink.

"Oh. It's… I… Yes, actually," he shyly admitted. "I-I'm… I'm a fan. A big fan."

Marinette felt herself blush despite her best efforts not to.

Sure, Adrien was talking about her alter-ego. But as Tikki had repeated to her many times, she was Ladybug, with or without the mask. And to know that her true love was so infatuated with the heroine of Paris made a sweet sensation of warmth and well-being radiate through her, which spread from her navel to every inch of her body.

Encouraged by this revelation, Marinette drew on her courage to continue the conversation without letting her happiness, embarrassment, nervousness, or any other sort of emotion get in the way.

"I-It's… it's not that surprising," she returned with a little nod of the head. "Plenty of people admire her."

"I know, right?" Adrien replied, his eyes shining.

Seeing the expression of blind adoration that covered the face of the young man, Marinette couldn't help but smile.

"I feel like I'm listening to Alya," she remarked with a giggle. "She spends all her time praising Ladybug."

"With good reason," Adrien said with a dreamy sigh. "She's magnificent…"

Surprised by the sharp look that Marinette gave him, the boy feverishly ran a hand through his hair to try to find some semblance of composure.

"I mean, she's the heroine of Paris," he replied nervously. "It's normal to think she's extraordinary. Between the supervillains and everybody else in trouble, it's impossible to count the number of people she's helped!"

Marinette felt like she was dreaming. Naturally, she would have preferred that Adrien's admiration be directed towards her and not towards her alter-ego. But the enthusiasm of the young man was palpable, and to hear him covering her with compliments made her sparkle with joy anyway.

The still-lucid part of Marinette's brain was yelling at her to change the subject immediately.

This sensation of bittersweet euphoria that was sweeping through her was dangerous. It made her lower her guard. Gave her an unexpected surge of confidence. It urged her to seek more information, namely of how highly Adrien thought of her.

She had to shut up and leave.

But…

"What do you like about her?" Marinette heard herself asking unwittingly.

"Oh. She's… Well, she's courageous," Adrien started hesitantly. "And she's brilliant, so brilliant," he continued with more conviction, obviously unable to contain his admiration for the heroine. "Have you ever noticed how much imagination she has? I don't know how she comes up with all her plans for fighting supervillains, but I'm amazed every time! She's the kind of girl that can stop a burglary with a clothespin, a bottle of shampoo, and a deep fryer," he added with a little chuckle.

Marinette couldn't keep the grin off her face, torn between embarrassment and amusement.

Visibly thrilled to have an attentive audience, Adrien went on describing Ladybug's amazing feats for a few long minutes. Her classmate's knowledge was far above that of Alya's, despite her being unanimously recognized as the expert on everything concerning the heroes of Paris.

More than once, Marinette found herself furrowing her brows at the mention of an anecdote.

Something was wrong.

Adrien's stories were too vivid. Too precise. Too rich in details that even Alya herself hardly knew. To anybody else, the boy would have just seemed like a fan that was perhaps a bit too passionate. But for Marinette, for Ladybug, it was something else.

It was strange that Adrien knew so much about her and her battles.

"…above all, she's a source of inspiration for me," the young man continued. "Not because she's strong, but because she continues on despite all the doubts she might have. The first time she had to fight against a supervillain, she was convinced that she would never be up to it," murmured Adrien with a smile as if he was certain of the opposite being true. "She had even hesitated to accept her role as a heroine. But even so, she fought with all her strength and managed to rally everyone to her side. Ladybug is an ordinary girl, who finds the courage to do extraordinary things," he concluded with an awe-struck sigh.

Marinette suddenly looked as if she had seen a ghost. Nobody knew that she had been close to refusing to be Ladybug. Nobody knew that she had almost abandoned her miraculous.

Almost nobody.

"How do you know these things about her?" Marinette asked flatly.

The young man jolted. He blinked, once, twice, in a daze like somebody who had just been woken from a dream. Then, suddenly aware of what he had recounted, he turned so pale that, for a moment, Marinette thought he was going to collapse right in front of her.

"Oh… It's… You know how it is," he sputtered in a panic, his gaze suddenly avoided hers. "A bit of chatting here and there, you learn a few things."

"Chatting… With Ladybug?" Marinette pressed, frowning.

"Yeah," the boy answered automatically. "NO!" he quickly backtracked. "Well, a little. I've crossed paths with her a few times, and talked with her a bit… T-That's… That's how I know these things about her. Anyway, I probably shouldn't be talking about these things…" he finished with a nervous laugh.

He reached his hands out to Marinette to rest them on her shoulders, dipping his spring green gaze into her ocean blue eyes.

"Please, don't tell anybody," he pleaded. "That… That I've had the chance to talk with Ladybug. Not even Alya. I-I… Y-You know how she is, she'll want to know exactly how I ran into her and it's not something that I want to talk about and I…"

But Marinette wasn't listening to him anymore. Her mind was boiling, her skull ready to explode. At that precise moment, four thoughts circled around in her brain.

 _One._ Adrien knew way too many stories about Ladybug.

 _Two._ He claimed to have met the heroine of Paris on multiple occasions.

 _Three._ Marinette was in a particularly good position to know that wasn't the case.

 _Four._ Adrien was anything but a liar.

No.

No, not four thoughts, Marinette realized in a moment of strange clarity.

Five.

 _Five._ Adrien was Chat Noir.


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien was Chat Noir.

That was the only possible explanation.

The only way for him to have known such things about Ladybug, things even Alya wasn't aware of. The hidden cause of all of his absences, that Marinette had never noticed because they coincided perfectly with all of hers.

The girl's surprise made it so that she could no longer think straight. It was too much, way too much, to try to sort through in one fell swoop. The identity of Chat Noir. The double-life of the one she loved. These hints that had always evaded her until now. The possible implications of this discovery. The future of their relationship.

Marinette's mind was no longer following. She had to leave. To take some time to calm down and analyze the situation.

Overwhelmed by the panicked thoughts that swirled around in her brain, Marinette felt a rush of uncontrollable nervousness rise up inside of her. It was an immense wave of panic that surged relentlessly, crashing against her ribs, compressing her lungs, eroding the fragile barrier of composure that still separated her from hysterics.

She needed to leave _now_.

"O-Okay," she stammered shrilly, "I-I think I should get going, my parents are going to noticed that I'm gone. And d-d-don't worry about me. I mean, don't worry about Ladybug," she corrected herself, waving her hands so violently that she almost hit Adrien in the jaw.

The boy's perfect teeth were only saved thanks to an instinctive recoil, as Adrien tossed a frightened look at his classmate.

"I won't say anything!" Marinette insisted, frantically shaking her head. "Absolutely nothing. I swear!"

"Okay," agreed Adrien, as his worried expression quickly became one of relief. "Thanks, Marinette. And thank you again for coming."

* * *

It only took Marinette a handful of minutes to flee make a strategic retreat to the rooftops.

After having transformed and slipped away in record time, the girl took refuge on top of a building facing the enormous Agreste residency. Sitting cross-legged, leaned against a chimney, Ladybug stared at her classmate's room without really seeing.

The heroine of Paris was still in shock from her unbelievable discovery. Her entire body trembled, as if an invisible hand had taken hold of her and was shaking her like a snow globe. Her gaze was empty, her lips letting out incoherent murmurs, as Ladybug desperately tried to sort through her thoughts.

She told herself that she loved Adrien. She insisted that Chat Noir was just a friend.

What couldn't she understand?

Suddenly, Ladybug's eyes caught on an almost undetectable movement. A dark little ball, that floated around in Adrien's room so lightly that, if anybody other than her had seen it, they would have just marked it up as a shadow or some sort of optical illusion.

But for the heroine of Paris, there was no doubt. That tiny thing as black as ink was a kwami, and Adrien was Chat Noir.

It was certain now.

* * *

"Marinette, I think that this is a bad idea," Tikki repeated. "A very, very bad idea."

Three days had passed since the girl's miraculous realization.

Three long, hard days punctuated by muffled screaming in pillows, endless speeches, and uselessly dramatic questioning that had put the kwami's patience to the test.

Fortunately, Marinette seemed to finally be recovering.

Unfortunately, she did not seem to be willing to use as much common sense as Tikki would have liked.

"I think that it's the best thing to do, actually," the girl retorted, clearly indifferent to her kwami's reservations.

"And why not just simply tell him who you are?" Tikki objected, fluttering at her side.

Marinette shook her head vigorously.

"No," she repeated stubbornly, crossing her arms defensively to back up her words. "I want him to guess."

"Marinette…" sighed Tikki. "Don't you think that's just making things needlessly complicated?"

But the girl had made up her mind. She had discovered Chat Noir's identity by herself, thanks to the hints that Adrien had unknowingly dropped. It was only fair that her partner had to figure out who she was. He just had to guess who was hiding behind Ladybug's mask.

And for that, she had a foolproof plan.

* * *

The next evening, Marinette snuck into her partner's house the same way she had done a few days earlier.

But this time, she was no longer a ball of nerves ready to faint at the mere sight of the love of her life.

This time, she was a girl on a mission.

It took Marinette just a couple of minutes to reach her teammate's room, and only a matter of seconds more to slip inside. She quickly spotted Adrien, sitting directly in her field of view. Comfortably settled on his couch and clearly unaware of his classmate's intrusion, the young man distractedly turned the pages of the book that he held in his hands.

A little smile slowly drew itself onto Marinette's lips.

It was time to set her plan into motion.

The teenage girl took a deep breath and let out a small cough. Alerted by the sudden noise, Adrien whipped his head around toward her. In his surprise, he jumped from the couch, waving his arms so wildly to keep his balance that he sent his book flying two meters away.

"M-Marinette?" he stumbled, eyes wide with shock.

Then, regaining his composure at a remarkable speed, he approached the girl, passing a hand through his hair out of habit.

"Good evening," he greeted her with a warm smile. "I didn't expect you to come visit me again."

"Hi!" she replied excitedly. "And well, last time, you told me you were a little bored here, so I thought some company would make you happy."

"And you would be perfectly correct," Adrien approved with a new smile that made Marinette feel like she would melt with happiness.

Undoubtedly, Adrien, Chat Noir, it didn't matter.

This boy made her head spin.

"You climbed up the outside of my house again?" Adrien asked, unaware of the emotions he inspired in his visitor.

"Exactly," Marinette lied with remarkable confidence. "I even came in from the roof, to be exact. Through a little window of an old office," she specified when the boy gave her an appalled look.

"You… WHAT?" he cried. "But… That's… That's not possible!"

"It is when you have a good technique," Marinette retorted, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Her hands resting on her hips, she raised her chin proudly in a perfect imitation of Ladybug's confident attitude when a fight turned to her advantage.

"I would even say that it was simple, as if I had flung myself directly to the top of your house," she added, punctuating her statement with a little giggle of satisfaction when Adrien shot her a suspicious gaze.

Things were starting off well.

A few hints here, a few compromising words there, and soon, Adrien would finally figure out that she was none other than his dear partner.

* * *

The following week, Marinette made a point of not letting a single day pass without spending a few hours in her teammate's room.

Each night, she went to visit him, hoping to finally catch a glimmer of understanding in his eyes.

And each night, she left disappointed in her lack of results.

To her despair, even if Adrien welcomed her warmly, even if his face lit up with a wonderful smile every time he saw her, he never seemed to ask questions about her strange appearances.

Not the slightest questioning.

Not the slightest progress.

But Marinette wasn't giving up. She now came directly through the window of Adrien's bathroom, emphasizing the lack of hold on the wall of his house there. Throughout the long hours of chatting between the two, she tried her best to point the conversation toward Ladybug, stressing less and less subtly the common traits between them. Their heights, their voices, the color of their eyes… She didn't forget a single detail.

Alas, even if Adrien was asked to talk at length about the heroine of Paris, he never seemed to realize the obvious resemblance between the two girls.

Out of desperation, Marinette had even started to bring a real yoyo - a red yoyo, specifically - with her. While Adrien conscientiously finished his homework, she spent hours juggling it, learning the most impressive tricks, hoping that this accessory would finally open Adrien's eyes.

But nothing happened.

Marinette was becoming an expert at handling a non-magic-yoyo, and Adrien still didn't seem to realize that she was Ladybug.

Once again, Tikki advised her friend to just talk with her partner once and for all. To speak with him frankly about their secret identities rather than continue to waste her time.

But Marinette was stubborn.

Stubborn _AND_ creative.

After yet another failure, she returned to her own room more determined than ever. Under the perplexed watch of Tikki, she rummaged through her closet in search of a specific garment and dug through her sewing supplies to pull out a bolt of black fabric and thread of a similar color, and then set herself up in front of her sewing machine.

For over an hour, she alternated between measuring, cutting, and sewing, working with skill worthy of the greatest professionals, until she achieved her desired result.

"Okay," she finally proclaimed, holding the fruit of her efforts out in her hands to get a better look. "This should do it!"

* * *

The next evening, faithful to her recent routine, Marinette made her way to go visit Adrien. Once there, she hung in front of the bathroom for a moment. After making sure the room was empty, she slipped in through the window, de-transformed, and slowly opened the door, carefully scanning the room. Then, after concluding that her classmate was alone, sitting at his desk, she moved toward him.

"Hi, Adrien!" she greeted confidently.

"Oh, good evening, Marinette," her partner replied, raising his head to look at her. "How's it go-..."

Adrien's words stopped in his throat as his eyes landed on the clothing being worn by his visitor. For the occasion, Marinette was wearing a pair of sneakers, some black jeans, and a comfortable hooded sweater.

Specifically, a _red_ sweater. With _black spots_.

A sweater in the colors of the heroine of Paris.

Marinette couldn't help but smile at Adrien's stunned expression. Eyes wide and stuck on her, her teammate stood up without even realizing it. He took an automatic step towards her, then a second, then a third, his eyebrows raised so high in astonishment that they almost disappeared under his blond hair.

"Marinette," he began hesitantly, pointing at her sweater. "You… Your top… It's really…"

Marinette's smile grew larger.

This was it.

He finally understood.

"It looks just like Alya's!" Adrien exclaimed triumphantly, unknowingly drowning all of Marinette's hopes with it. "She has almost the exact same sweater! Wow, you must have made hers then? You made two of them? It's amazing work!"

Marinette stared at him in disbelief, suddenly feeling as if a bucket of water had been dumped on her.

No.

It wasn't possible.

She must have heard wrong.

"That's why I had a feeling of déjà-vu when I saw you," her teammate continued. "Because of Alya!"

Refusing to bear anymore, Marinette buried her face in her hands and let out a frustrated groan. Adrien was clueless, yeah. But the difference between being clueless and not being able to see the obvious similarities between his best friend and her alter-ego was a stretch.

Marinette loved her partner with all her heart. She really did.

But now, her patience was at its end.

Adrien was really proving to be blind, to be lacking simple deduction skills such that the girl started to doubt that he would understand that she was Ladybug even if she went and transformed right in front of him.

"Okay, I look like Alya!" she cried, rolling her eyes in irritation. "And _not at all_ like Ladybug! After all, it's not like we have the same hairstyle, the same skin color, the same height…" she listed off in an exasperated voice.

"Well of course you look like Ladybug," replied Adrien, shooting her a perplexed look, as if it was hard to believe that she could have uttered such absurdity. "That's obvious."

Marinette was speechless.

Never, _NEVER_ would she have expected such a statement from her teammate.

Especially not after seeing his lack of a reaction to the clues she had given him with as much subtlety as a shove to the head.

"Between us, the resemblance between you two is so striking that for a moment, I was convinced that you were one in the same," the young man elaborated with a little chuckle. "If I didn't have proof that you _COULDN'T_ be Ladybug, I would have figured that I'd discovered her identity a while ago. I was really shocked when I realized that you couldn't be her."

Marinette couldn't believe her ears.

Adrien had suspected that she was Ladybug.

And yet, for some mysterious reason, he was now convinced that it was impossible for her to be the heroine of Paris.

"P-Proof?" she stammered, baffled. "What proof?"

"Well, I've seen you two together," Adrien answered with an unsettling ease.

Marinette was now the very image of bewilderment. Mouth gaping like a fish out of water, eyebrows raised comically high, she stared at Adrien in shock, as if the boy had just grown a second head.

"Together?" she repeated incredulously. "Ladybug and… and _me_? But… But when?"

"It was that time when Alix was akumatized," her partner patiently explained. "I don't know if you remember but you were standing right next to me when Ladybug arrived. And with that, that was the end of my nice little theory," he finished with a remorseful smile. "You couldn't be Ladybug."

In Marinette's mind, everything suddenly clicked. A sudden, vivid revelation that lit up her mind like a flash of lightning in the darkness.

The akumatization of Alix.

Of course.

She remembered it perfectly well. It was the day that Ladybug went back in time. The day that another version of herself fought beside her.

The day that, for a brief moment, her friends had seen both a Marinette and a Ladybug at the same place, at the same time.

The situation was ridiculous, so absurd, that Marinette felt the corners of her lips curve up despite herself. She bit the inside of her cheek to try to keep her composure, but to no avail. A tickling sensation swelled up in the pit of her stomach, running under her skin, and quickly, the girl fell victim to an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

For a few long minutes, she couldn't do anything but laugh, laugh, and laugh still, struggling to catch her breath under the stunned gaze of her teammate. Restless body shaking and lungs panting, Marinette had to call upon all of her strength to calm herself from this unexpected fit.

"Ahhh yes, I remember it," she finally replied, wiping a tear that had collected in the corner of her eye. "But if I remember correctly, there were _TWO_ Ladybugs that time," she continued, holding up two fingers in front of her theatrically. "So for your hypothesis to be right, you would have had to see me with the _TWO_ Ladybugs at the same time. Because otherwise, I could very well have been one of them."

This time, it was Adrien who was bewildered.

The young man went pale, teetering, as if he had just been struck in the head. Silent with surprise, he looked Marinette up and down, eyes so wide that they seemed ready to spring from their sockets.

And slowly, as the notion seemed to gradually sink in, his skin streaked crimson more and more. If Marinette thought she had seen Adrien blush before, it was nothing compared to the red that now dyed his cheeks.

"Y-You… I'm guess that you're not actually a climbing champion?" the boy sighed embarrassingly.

"Absolutely not, kitty," Marinette answered with a huge smile.

Adrien paled a little more, the skin of his face now offering a striking contrast to his beautiful scarlet cheeks.

"You know?" he gulped, looking at her horrified.

"That you're Chat Noir?" Marinette completed with undeniable satisfaction. "Definitely."

Nervously running his fingers through his hair, the boy let out a distressed groan.

"I really am an idiot," he grumbled, shaking his head back and forth.

Then, finally seeming to recover, he buried his pure green eyes into the extraordinary blue of Marinette's. A smile of incredible happiness slowly drew itself onto his face, erasing little by little the look of embarrassment that still haunted his features. Adrien was now overflowing with a palpable, vibrant joy that seemed to radiate through his entire being.

"It's you!" he cried out with a thrilled laugh. "It's really you! I feel really dumb for not figuring it out sooner. I had my suspicions, and… And I never saw it. And yet, the evidence shows it all! You and Ladybug, you're both… I mean, just you… You are the most amazing girl I've ever known! I'm not surprised for moment that you found out my identity first," he continued, his eyes shining with glee.

He took another step toward Marinette and set his hands on her shoulders. The girl quickly felt herself blush all the way up to her hairline. She may have become more confident in front of him in recent days, but it was clearly not enough to fully immunize her against the charm of the love of her life.

Her heart beating wildly, Marinette felt a delicious shiver travel up her spine.

A shiver of joy. Of excitement. Of the most wonderful emotions that promised to become dangerously addictive.

"And you continue to support me even if I am such a fool," Adrien went on with a smile that would have definitely melted Marinette's heart if it had not already belonged to him. "I never could have dreamed of a better teammate. You're amazing, courageous, creative…"

Marinette felt like she was on the verge of exploding with happiness. Even in her wildest dreams, she never imagined that her nighttime visits would end up like this. The undeniable affection she heard in Adrien's voice, the very words he uttered, and his eyes, oh, his eyes…

The way he looked at her was worth a thousand declaration of love.

Marinette felt like her heart was about ready to give out, and if Adrien continued to shower her in compliments, she would surely faint.

So, by sheer survival instinct, she cut off his flow of speech in the only way that she could think of.

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him towards her, and she kissed him.

Adrien froze and quickly, Marinette asked herself in an icy terror if she had made a huge mistake. But just a fraction of a second later, she felt her teammate smile against her lips. Adrien relaxed, wrapping his arms around Marinette's waist, and he returned her kiss with such fervor that the girl felt like her legs were jelly beneath her.

Closing her eyes, Marinette unabashedly savored the languid movement of Adrien's lips against hers, the exhilarating smell of his skin, the soft caress of his fingers along her jaw. Her heart sang her joy with enthusiasm from the core of her chest, beating with such force that it made her head spin. This torrent of marvelous sensations crashed fiercely over Marinette, drawing her into an ocean of bliss full of heat and sweetness.

"Marinette," Adrien whispered breathlessly, leaving the girl's lips to cover her face in tender kisses. "My princess… My Lady…"

Marinette couldn't help but laugh at hearing the nicknames roll off of her partner's tongue so affectionately.

Finally, Tikki was wrong.

These nighttime visits were definitely the best idea she had ever had in her life.

* * *

 ***** END *****

* * *

 _No te : XanLee, thank you for the translation ! :D _


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